Related papers: Proofs, proofs, proofs, and proofs
"[M]athematicians care no more for logic than logicians for mathematics." Augustus de Morgan, 1868. Proofs are traditionally syntactic, inductively generated objects. This paper presents an abstract mathematical formulation of propositional…
We develop a semantics for logics of imperfect information with respect to general models. Then we build a proof system and prove its soundness and completeness with respect to this semantics.
We illustrate the concept of mathematical proof.
The generally accepted wisdom in computational circles is that pure proof verification is a solved problem and that the computationally hard elements and fertile areas of study lie in proof discovery. This wisdom presumably does hold for…
Proof scores can be regarded as outlines of the formal verification of system properties. They have been historically used by the OBJ family of specification languages. The main advantage of proof scores is that they follow the same syntax…
A central problem in proof-theory is that of finding criteria for identity of proofs, that is, for when two distinct formal derivations can be taken as denoting the same logical argument. In the literature one finds criteria which are…
We uncover a close relationship between combinatorial and syntactic proofs for first-order logic (without equality). Whereas syntactic proofs are formalized in a deductive proof system based on inference rules, a combinatorial proof is a…
We define an extension of predicate logic, called Binding Logic, where variables can be bound in terms and in propositions. We introduce a notion of model for this logic and prove a soundness and completeness theorem for it. This theorem is…
A definition of what counts as an explanation of mathematical statement, and when one explanation is better than another, is given. Since all mathematical facts must be true in all causal models, and hence known by an agent, mathematical…
The original idea of proof nets can be formulated by means of interaction nets syntax. Additional machinery as switching, jumps and graph connectivity is needed in order to ensure correspondence between a proof structure and a correct proof…
We generalize the notion of proof term to the realm of transfinite reduction. Proof terms represent reductions in the first-order term format, thereby facilitating their formal analysis. We show that any transfinite reduction can be…
In mathematics information is a number that measures uncertainty (entropy) based on a probabilistic distribution, often of an obscure origin. In real life language information is a datum, a statement, more precisely, a formula. But such a…
It is well known that the resolution method (for propositional logic) is complete. However, completeness proofs found in the literature use an argument by contradiction showing that if a set of clauses is unsatisfiable, then it must have a…
Though the truths of logic and pure mathematics are objective and independent of any contingent facts or laws of nature, our knowledge of these truths depends entirely on our knowledge of the laws of physics. Recent progress in the quantum…
This note formally defines the concept of coinductive validity of judgements, and contrasts it with inductive validity. For both notions it shows how a judgement is valid iff it has a formal proof. Finally, it defines and illustrates the…
The use of logical systems for problem-solving may be as diverse as in proving theorems in mathematics or in figuring out how to meet up with a friend. In either case, the problem solving activity is captured by the search for an…
At the heart of intuitionistic type theory lies an intuitive semantics called the "meaning explanations"; crucially, when meaning explanations are taken as definitive for type theory, the core notion is no longer "proof" but "verification".…
We analyze the informal semantic conception of proof and axiomatize the proof relation and the provability operator. A self referential propositional calculus which admits provable liar type sentences is introduced and proven consistent. We…
Structural proof theory is praised for being a symbolic approach to reasoning and proofs, in which one can define schemas for reasoning steps and manipulate proofs as a mathematical structure. For this to be possible, proof systems must be…
We propose new definitions of (causal) explanation, using structural equations to model counterfactuals. The definition is based on the notion of actual cause, as defined and motivated in a companion paper. Essentially, an explanation is a…